After Pictures

Well, the last two days I have done almost nothing except pull up staples. There were literally (and no, I am not exaggerating like a Hakanson, KVP) thousands of staples stuck in our floor from the carpet. Some popped out right away, others required up to 5 minutes to bend them in a way that would have them be easy to get out. At long last, the carpet and all of the staples are up. Tomorrow, we are having someone come in to refinish the floors.









And here are just a few of the many many many staples we pulled out.

I'm a homeowner!

Yesterday was one of the longest days of my life, but so rewarding. Tim, Krissy, Nick and I took the Metra downtown (which felt really important and fancy, even thought Tim takes it every single day to work.) We got off and ate lunch downtown. (Fun to do in the middle of a school day, since usually I spend lunch time yelling at 7th graders to stop throwing food at each other.) Then we spent a few hours on the 16th floor of this big building downtown where I signed and initialed my name more times than I could count. Our attorney who explained everything to us seemed so familiar the whole time, and I couldn't figure out why. It was only at the end of the closing that I found out that he was Cam Hodgekinson's dad. Small world. We went back to the new place and immediately started demolishing everything gross. I spent hours pulling up light brown swirly carpet and unearthed beautiful hardwood floors that haven't seen the light of day since probably the 60s. Then, I spent even more time pulling up the carpet track that was nailed to the floor. My whole body is sore today. Nick spent his time taking down some old nasty doors and huge curtains that were the color of mustard and probably older than the carpet. I felt like I was on a missions trip, but kept realizing, THIS IS MY HOUSE! I own it. It really is crazy. We celebrated with pizza and champagne at Tim and Krissy's place, which is already at the painting phase. I'll have you guys over soon if you want to see it, but I want to get a little more work done first.

Here are the before pictures. After pictures to come.

No Big Deal

I'm buying a house tomorrow.

Viewer Discretion Advised

Don't read this if you are squemish.

Tonight, while Nick was away at a work party, I decided to go get some dinner for myself. I put on my coat and scarf and went to put on my shoes. I put my foot into my shoe, but couln't get my foot in all the way. "Strange" I thought. "Maybe there is a rolled up sock down there". Without thinking anything of it, I shoved my hand in my shoe to take out the sock. Much to my dismay, my sock was hard, fuzzy, and oh yes, it had a tail! So joke, there was a dead mouse in my shoe. I screamed, threw my shoe, washed my hands, screamed some more. With no heroic husband around to save me, I threw my shoes into a plastic bag, tied it tight, and ran down to the dumpster. Thank you Kristin Moulton, for these shoes that have served me well for 3 years. They have seen their last day today and will become the final resting place for my rodent friend. So moral of the story is....always look in your shoe before you put it on your foot...and if you have a mouse, don't waste money on a trap. Just put out a smelly pair of old sneakers. It'll get the job done.


And if you don't beleive me, here's a picture.

ugh

Tonight, I am snuggling up with a bottle of water, a box of tissues, and several doses of Tylenol cold and sinus. boo. I thought it was amazing that I had made it through my first year of teaching without getting sick. No such luck.

President's Day

When I was younger, my mom would always buy me a President's book on this holiday. Today, my collection sits on a bookshelf in my classroom. I'm very proud of those books.

This valentine's weekend was very low-key, and i loved it. Nick and I went to dinner and a movie on Friday. Unfortunately, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is one of those stories where the book was 100% better than the movie. Oh well, live and learn.
On Saturday, I got to celebrate and engagement just moments after it happened! Nick and I hung out with Pete and Kate all night on Saturday, and then pretended to go home at about 11 p.m. We hopped in the car to go buy Champagne to celebrate and by the time we got back, she had a beautiful ring on her finger! I'm so excited for them.
The rest of the weekend mostly consisted of laying in bed watching old Survivor episodes with my husband. It doesn't get much better than that. The only downside is I didn't see any of you. Hopefully next week!

Christmas in February

Today in the mail, I received my new Glamour and my new Real Simple. It was like Christmas.

The grace of a gorilla

So tonight, after months of inactivity, I decided to try out an old workout video that we had laying around. After about 15 minutes of hooks, sweeps, step touches, lunges, push ups, planks, squats, taps, etc, I gave up. It was so fast, I couldn't keep up. I couldn't even follow the beginner steps. I mostly just danced around in circles for a few minutes and then sat on the couch. In high school PE, my teacher showed these videos all the time. I always stood in the back so no one could see how uncoordinated I was. Tonight, in the privacy of my living room, I felt just as embarassed. I guess my holiday weight will have to stick around until it is warm enough to run outside.




Boo, you whore.